This is Russia's last ever war as a unified power. Putin's nationalistic paranoia has destroyed a potentially great nation. When he pops his clogs it will probably fragment into a bunch of smaller territories. He is so desperate that he's trying to bribe women into having more babies. And he's a gobshite hypocrite to accuse the USA of attempting to destabilise Taiwan & Ukraine.
It will take a very long time for them to replace all the equipment they have lost. And their demographics are against them in terms of raising future armies.
He was never going to turn up as his argument is, it was a kangaroo court and the decision had already been made in the 'secret' meeting the night before.
This is obviously a tricky situation and apparently Sharma has had his lawyer involved for some time, which I’d do to if I were in a tricky spot with my employer. It makes perfect sense to have a meeting to discuss internally the options and possible outcomes before two parties in a dispute meet up. When there is a highly or most likely option it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a predetermined option & outcome – parties should meet in good faith. However, if one party doesn’t give the other one any other realistic options it may indeed look like it was predetermined from the outset. By not showing up it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and thus a fait accompli. To have a leg to stand on, rather than spinning it to suit your narrative, you must follow (due) process and show good faith.
All of what you say is correct, however Sharma is citing the (recorded) conversation with a fellow MP as evidence that the decision WAS predetermined. I can only see two alternatives: Either that MP completely misread the discussion in the Monday meeting, or the outcome was indeed determined at that meeting.
If Sharma has proof it was pre-determined in the secret meeting that he was not invited to, then the second half of your comment is pretty much irrelevant.
Either you cannot read or you cannot think, or both. If he decided it was pre-determined and acted accordingly, then he forced the outcome to meet his pre-determined expectation. The fact that there was a special meeting set up for and with him strongly suggests that there were still things to discussed and decided. He failed to attend and thus signed his own fate. My question is whether this was reasonable process and whether this could have been handled better by Labour knowing that he’s in a spot of bother, mentally, at least.
Lol "secret meeting." Is there any organisation that wouldn't get relevant people together to discuss what to do about the loose unit who's shitting on them in the media? As for "pre-determined," the only thing surprising there is that they didn't immediately give him the boot.
As for "pre-determined," the only thing surprising there is that they didn't immediately give him the boot.
This is what makes me doubt the 'other' MP or the tape. The other MP says that the Monday meeting had predetermined the outcome and they were going to give him the 'whack',
Instead we find that the actual decision by Caucus and reported by the PM was to suspend him from the Labour Caucus, provide a way back and time for this to occur and mediation.
I am wondering if Sharma's mole misread the tenor of the Monday meeting because I find that what came out after the Caucus meeting on the Tuesday, is far from giving him the whack.
Instead it seems that the function of the meeting was in fact to provide a safe and non-leaking space to express concern & disappointment at their colleagues actions and these will no doubt have been feisty from some.
The other option, other than misreading the tenor of the meeting and/or the function of the Monday meeting and how it relates to the Tuesday caucus, is that the Sharma's source is as lacking in knowledge about process and nuance as Sharma himself.
PM has said that Sharma has misread what his colleague was saying.
The thing is, we've all had to deal with a Gaurav at some time or another in the workplace. The guy who has lost the plot. Got a job he wasn't suited for and has popped a fuse. You might be the HR manager who inwardly sighs when he turns up with his lawyer and 100s of pages in his dossier, knowing you are going to have spend two days a week for the next six months to get rid of the guy. Or you might be the union rep, who has to sit through his diatribe sixty four million times before going to the meeting with the HR manager and fight his corner (been there, done that). Or his line manager who has to meticulously document ever interaction with him. Or his direct reports, who do everything to aviod and not engage and generally keep away from the guy who has lost the plot. Or just a colleague, who smells the taint of dissent and just wants to enjoy his or her job in peace. Once you've lived a while, we will ALL have been around a Gaurav.
Now the fact of the matter is he has lost the plot. That I think is a matter of obvious public record. Being egged on by a salacious, partisan media looking for scandal and breathlessly reported on by lazy court journalists from the press gallery, who like all courtiers thrive on court gossip and preen at being consulted doesn't help anyone but there you have it. The central question then isn't Dr. Sharma's rationality – he is clearly irrational, obsessed and operating with all the bad faith one would expect to come from that – but what led him to lose the plot, which leads us to consider his accusations. Which is all they are. Accusations. He has not offered a shred of evidence to back up his increasingly outlandish claims. The latest "explosive revelation" is he was forced (FORCED, oh the inhumanity!) to attend a workshop (practically the same as the Gulag!) where new candidates were coached on how to avoid OIA requests. Forced to attend a workshop. I mean, for God's sake man get a grip. Words just fail me.
Until he does get some actual evidence then in the great court of public opinion (in the algorthim driven Herald site his story vanished almost immediately) he has, IMHO, been pigeon holed with that Gaurav we've had the misfortune to deal with at least once in our lives at work.
Sad to see, should probably never have got the job, pretty unfortunate all round, all a bit embarassing, avoid at all costs in the lunch room, thank God he is gone, hope he does well somewhere else, let's hope they recruit better next time.
That's very much the impression I get too. When I was working in Kuwait we had a Gaurav who, when HR finally did manage to fire him, got pissed that night and chucked a concrete block through the rear window of the boss' Trans Am. Jacinda Ardern should probably count herself lucky she doesn't own a sports car.
Yeah, yeah, they should have gone all lovey dove with Sharma, 'embraced' him, given him 'another chance.'
Then you would have been on here saying they were gutless, didn't have the balls to deal with him as he should have been dealt with.
And left you to go off sort of as vindictive bunches of shits do. And naturally put aside the truth of the 'dude's' claims. I mean why let facts and the truth intrude?
Given the sensitive nature of some of the allegations, and the historical nature of them, secrecy and confidentiality for the sake of all parties, including those on the receiving end of the actions of Young Uffindel, is entirely appropriate.
This is now the objective of the Herald/NewsHub operatives pushing the story: The "Independent Enquiry into Labour Party Bullying" has a nice ring to it. Just substitute "anti-semitism" for "bullying" and you can see both the historical precedent and the desired outcome.
Jimmy, if your assertion the decision had already been made, self-centred Sharma deserved it by his behaviour to his party and colleagues and former staff. Some self-reflection by him towards simply getting along with people is badly needed. He seems to have no idea about working co-operatively. Right from the start of his entering Parliament he has been difficult to deal with.
Hopefully, by now his Parliamentary "colleagues" have learned that anything they say to him is likely to be recorded and used by him with or without their approval. Also that any personal correspondence to him, or which he has access to will also be publicised by him if it suites his narrative, We saw this earlier in the week when Darien Fenton sent him a personal message suggesting how he might get assistance. He then published it and Darien was subjected to hours of trolling by the usual suspects. The man is coming across as having a very well tuned sense of his own importance and of his own victimhood. Neither seems to rest on firm foundations.
If they can be bothered to dig back far enough (and they won't) they would probably find he has done it before. Those types usually have. And they are very good at playing the victim and turning the innocent party or parties into the perpetrators.
In severe cases, they will go so far as to commit crimes such as stalking, unlawful entries to property and other misdemeanors in order to maintain control over the life of the victim. Making serious allegations (sometimes anonymously) against the victim/victims is another favourite tool. That ensures everyone is concentrating on the victim/victims and not on themselves.
I don't believe Sharma is anywhere near that level, but they exist and some manage to get away with it for a life-time.
Oh god, sorry…. I of course, was forgetting you have had some quite "up close" involvement with those kind of swine.
And yes I do also see Sharma as maybe a lower order variety. Those who have known him..will probably be breathing relief that he didnt go as far on them ?
"I… was forgetting you have had some quite "up close" involvement with those kind of swine."
Their behaviour adversely affected the Labour Party in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. Unfortunately I did not know they were the culprits at the time. However that is the reason they later targeted me. Like all guilty parties, they were paranoid I might figure it out and the motivations behind their antics. Quite a story it is. Puts Sharma and co. well into the shadows. 😉
Exactly Anne, "Look at them, meeting without me" "Look at Jacinda lying"
Does he ever look at his own behaviour? Even for a moment? Yes, and he believes "I have done nothing wrong" "I am not the bully"
Sadly, he has accused someone of misappropriation of funds, which turned out to be a travel allowance. Did he apologise?
He wanted someone sacked, it appears an inquiry found against him, and he interpreted that as undermining his authority, which he did not have to begin with.
Now he is calling on friends to back him in the face of an apparent long running situation of "I will lawyer up" "You are asking me/directing me to do training".
He has not appeared for meetings previously, accusing other MPs of some type of agenda. He appears to be quite rigid in his relationships.
Depression and focus on detail and documentation are obvious coping strategies, and his cry about long hours backs that.
He is clever annoying and pedantic, seeming to lose the main idea in a plethora of supposed slights.
Now he has put himself in a corner, so he is letting fly. An enquiry would be difficult as he would not take part in good faith the moment he felt it was not going in his favour.
This is a pattern, and there may be personal issues he knows about and has yet to face imo. Sad for him and the party.
That doesn't excuse Labour using the mental health of the alleged victim of bullying to discredit their claims though (which seems to be what he is claiming).
Doesn't answer the question of who introduced the question and what possib;e reply could be made given that he opened up the topic. Once opened, it had to be addressed.
I note also that you are hiding behind words. You wrote, "(which seems to be what he is claiming). Note the words 'seems' and 'claiming'.
If anyone is claiming without evidence, it is you.
No, I'm simply being cautious. The idea that a person's mental health could be weaponised against him to discredit his complaints is despicable. If true. And we don't know if it's true, we only have his word for it. At the moment, anyway.
If true, all your pontificating and insinuating here is based on idle speculation and the word of one person who is under a huge amount of pressure and, by his own admission, suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts, which will undoubtedly affect his thinking and actions.
If true, you simply keep sucking away oxygen here.
If true, I have enough of this pattern behaviour of yours.
If true, you can draw your own conclusion of what will happen next.
"all your pontificating and insinuating here is based on idle speculation and the word of one person "
He has evidence that he has presented. Text messages. A taped phone conversation that the media have verified comes from another Labour MP. This is either a grand conspiracy, or Labour supporters will have to accept that this government is so transparent we can see right through them.
[You said it yourself:
And we don’t know if it’s true, we only have his word for it.
Now, you’re claiming that there’s more than just his word. I have not seen it and you have not seen it, so you’re speculating and taking him at his word and distrusting the word of many others who deny his word, including the PM and Labour Ministers.
The truth will be somewhere in the middle, as usual when there are two wildly conflicting stories, but your conspiracy thoughts will not get us any closer to it. When new info and/or new insights come to hand and when there are new developments things will hopefully become clearer. Until then you’ll have nothing to add to what you have already said here. I will again put a stop to your oxygen-wasting commenting behaviour here, if I have too. This is your warning – Incognito]
"Now, you’re claiming that there’s more than just his word."
Now you're being dishonest. You know my comment was referring to the warnings he received about Labour weaponising his mental health issues. We do only have his word about that. But we have text's and a recorded phone message as evidence of his other claims.
[Gaslights consume oxygen. You are a major gaslight here on TS. We need oxygen for discourse to flourish. We cannot flourish with you around. Take a week off, this time; I have no time to play games with you and I’ve got much work to do this weekend – Incognito]
C'mon Mac1. Liberty Lady doesn't want the facts. She (if she is a she) only wants to "misrepresent" them so that she can claim a negative agenda which fits into the "Jacinda Ardern is a liar and cheat" meme.
I realise that your natural inclination to be deceitful and dishonest in the interest of a bunch of ultra right-wing losers transcends all genuine considerations.
The Green Party is calling on Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) to agree to improve the pay and conditions of our professional firefighters who are on the front line risking their health and life to protect New Zealanders.
FENZ’s failure to agree to safe staffing levels, to upgrade equipment so it is safe and reliable, and to boost wages means firefighters will be on strike today for one hour between 11am and 12pm, and again on Friday 26 August.
“Firefighters put their health at risk to protect us, so it is crucial that we do everything we can to look after them,” says Jan Logie, Green Party spokesperson for workplace relations and safety.
“Green Party MPs have been visiting fire stations around the country over the last few weeks. Every time, firefighters are raising the same concerns but with more examples specific to their station – dangerously long hours, unsafe equipment, not being listened to, and a lack of appropriate health support or training.
FENZ’s behaviour has been in the least deceptive if not outright dishonest. It is the antithesis of good faith.
FENZ has employed every delay tactic it could over the past 14 months to prolong the bargaining so this has clearly been a strategy from early on. They are aborting a process that was arranged with the support of the Minister in favour of lengthy and costly litigation that may end up in non-binding recommendations and therefore only delay any prospect of resolution.
FENZ would be better to spend the public funding and their energy on resolving the bargaining.
The disrespect to the NZPFU membership is unfathomable.
We’ve long thought that our first responders should be fully professional. Fire, Ambulance, and Surf Lifesaving.
By all means provide a place for volunteers, but ensure that the majority are paid, from the public purse.
I would be a bit more sympathetic to the Firefighter's Union if they had not worked so hard for so long not to allow women into their ranks. Thanks to the persistence of Firefighter England, they were forced by legal action to admit women. However, there has continued to be a steady campaign of harassment and discouragement against female firefighters.
Uffindell has a proven nasty bullying past that should have been enough for him not to be selected as a candidate but National was willing to ignore this. His bullying and anti women violence (“hit the road fatty”) was hidden from voters.
Sharma admits to depression which may explain in part his recent behaviour. He seems to be very self-entitled, perhaps on the basis of his strong academic background. When power/authority/recognition didn't fall into his lap in the rough and tumble of parliament he threw his toys out of the cot. He has turned out to be a bad choice of candidate; this can happen. But none of his claims to have been bullied or other accusations against Labour MP's have been proven.
This is what I'm struggling with Weka. I'm completely lost as to what they're meant to be enquiring into and what the substance of the complaint is. For all the noise there are not a lot of hard allegations of fact in the public domain (unlike Uffindell where it is crystal clear what he is said to have done). Do they just want an enquiry into the general culture within the Labour caucus? If so, to what end? Why stop at Labour – you may as well enquire into the caucus culture of all Parliamentary parties while you're at it. Those would be very broad terms of reference. The usual bad faith actors seem to be just yelling "Independent Enquiry" without knowing what they're really asking for, and these same people would usually be the first to rubbish Labour for wasting money on enquiries.
The staff relationship problems clearly evident in his office.
How they were responded to by parliamentary service and party whips. The steps taken to resolve these and if they were made in a timely and appropriate fashion.
Is the appropriate oversight in place for new Mps given they can suddenly find themselves in people management roles with zero practical experience.
Is it really the party whips' role to manage employment issues between their MPs and the staff assigned to them by Parliamentary Service? Genuine question. I had always thought the whips were there to keep MPs in line on political/policy issues rather than operational matters.
Aside from that, those terms of reference sound reasonable to me although they have little if anything to do with embarrassing the prime minister so I don't think they will satisfy the usual suspects.
I think the whips have a role to play in relation to the Mp and how they deal with staff especially if the Mp is out of their depth.
This could be providing / arranging appropriate support. I'm not sure that's something that has been handled very well in this case and no doubt many others to the detriment of the staffers who end up putting up with shitty behavior.
Parliament is a high pressure environment but the staff dont deserve to be treated like shit and it's not ok that they can be and expected to suck it up. Nick Smith springs to mind.
National’s problem is self-inflicted because they selected a candidate who was upfront and disclosed ‘personal history’ and then failed to manage it. You cannot push forward a candidate and then withdraw your support when the going gets tough. It shows lack of leadership, managerial skills, good process, and loyalty – hiding behind a QC and a secret report is weak, to say the least.
I’d start with a full psychiatric evaluation, which will raise privacy issues, of course, and one cannot be forced to cooperate against their will. So far, one person has made it abundantly clear that he’s not willing to cooperate at all, or follow due process, but that he’s rather inclined to go down his rollercoaster path. Anybody who has some experience with clinical depression (and suicide) may realise that this might be a loud cry for help – it makes me wonder if it was sufficiently known in his workplace and handled appropriately (but not necessarily by his employer(s)) and at face value the answer seems to be “No”.
You are a qualified and registered Psychiatrist or Psychologist are you?
Who did you have in mind for this evaluation by the way? Or are you suggesting it would be best to evaluate all the people accused of bullying. That is beginning to be rather a long list isn't it?
Sharma said that he slowly fell into a cycle of stress and depression. “I thought to myself about how despite listening to and assisting many of my constituents with bullying and harassment issues, I had to put a bold face up as I struggled everyday with the thought of contemplating suicide.”
Any other unhelpful comments you want to make to show your usual prejudice and bias as well as your lack of reading comprehension?
Any professional, legal, medical, or other, knows better than to do a professional assessment and judgement online, least of all on a public forum, on a public figure who’s also in the midst of a controversy (aka shit storm). Clearly, you’re not in that category of professionals and more a sensationalist armchair wrestler.
Or are you suggesting it would be best to evaluate all the people accused of bullying. That is beginning to be rather a long list isn't it?
MPs should model decent behaviour – will be challenging for some, but they can learn – best not to right off new MPs for a few misdemeanours – give them time.
The Parliamentary Code Of Conduct Is A First Step, Much More Is Needed [30 July 2020]
"The culture of Parliament is such that the very behaviours that require the code are demonstrated by MPs who fail to see its necessity. Now that the door is opened, all Parliamentarians need to walk through it and be on their best behaviour prior to the election,"says Suzanne Snively, Chair of Transparency International New Zealand.
I heard Sharma's interview on Newstalk ZB this morning. He gave very specific information about training MPs were given on how to avoid OIA requests, or at least control the narrative.
If that is true, it would have to be concerning. Open and transparent government, not so much.
Its true. Multiple levels of the public service right up to MPs receive training on what is able to be OIA'd and what is not. An important part of OIA legislation is staff being compliant with and understanding it.
Its the same training. The PS tries to avoid being OIA'd all the time, its basically best practice not to have to deal with it. What they take from the training is up to them of course.
Also, in future, please don't tell me your email address when commenting here as it allows somebody to co-opt and impersonate your handle.
Except the claim is that the training was how to avoid being subject to OIA’s.
Do new MPs receive OI requests? There've been any number of claims relating to recent turns of political events, and no doubt more to come. I'd want to read an accurate quote, in context, before forming an opinion – won't stop some though.
On another issue relating to transparency, some believe avoidance is OK, while others see nothing wrong with a little evasion. And then there's minimisation and mitigation – so many ways to 'get ahead'.
Training for something you even questioned happens?
Do you mean my questioning whether ‘new MPs receiving OI requests’ is a thing? I honestly don’t know if that happens – do you?
Of course some new MPs might eventually become Ministers – guess it all depends on how steep Parliament wants that learning curve to be. The training of new MPs is evolving – wonder when new MPs first started getting training relating to OI requests – the OIA has been around for a while (enacted in 1982, under a National Government – who would have guessed!)
If true [How difficult would it have been to include the words immediately below the quote you provided: “Dr Sharma didn’t provide any evidence to support his allegations.“?] – in which case the OIA and other legislation designed to promote open and transparent Government should be beefed up – nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
Political roundup: New Zealand's closed government
So is this the most transparent government ever? Multiple abuses of the Official Information Act (OIA) would suggest otherwise. This mechanism is the most important indicator of open governance, yet it appears to be being weakened by the current government – as was the case with previous governments.
This was a issue highlighted yesterday by Russel Norman in his valedictory speech in Parliament, in which he said the OIA had become "relatively moribund", which means "we've got a problem with accessing information in this country"
"If true [How difficult would it have been to include the words immediately below the quote you provided: “Dr Sharma didn’t provide any evidence to support his allegations.“?]"
But he has provided evidence, hasn't he. His own testimony. And is anyone denying it?
Is that a question? Jamie Ensor, author of the item you (selectively) quoted from @5:03 pm, didn't think so, but maybe he's biased
"They said the staffing arrangements are done in a way that some staff work part-time for Labour Leader's Office and part-time for Prime Minister's Office and when they want to prevent OIA, they just sort of make it that this is Labour Leader's problem, this is not the Prime Minister's office problem and then they can get away with it."
As for your “statement of fact” claims, since the only links you’ve chosen to provide in this thread are in your comment @5:03 pm, I’ll keep an open mind.
I wonder if that could be considered a criminal offence of some type? I note on Three News last night Sharma handed over an alleged tape of a fellow Labour MP informing him of what went down during the caucus meeting that convened without him. So he seems to be a man who keeps good records. However, he will need to release more information to back up other claims he has made.
It is possible that the secret caller was trying to assist Sharma to cope/manage with his probable censure and laying it on the line as to the real probability of expulsion. Depends on the tone of the whole message.
I have very little trust in anything like this which is released as a "snippet" out of context from the whole. A bit like JLR's recorded call of Simon Bridges about donation splitting which was supposed to expose Bridges but ended up being a total own goal.
a)Total number of staff employed/seconded to work in Sharma's Office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
b)Number of contacts/complaints from Sharma to Parliamentary Service versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
c)Number of contacts/complaints from Sharma's staff to Parliamentary Service versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
d) The numbers of both (b) and (c) before Parliamentary Service asked for the Labour Party's whip's assistance
e) The dates and numbers of times that Sharma was offered training and or mentorship and the number and any details of his refusals of these offers
f) The numbers of both (b) and (c) before Parliamentary Service advised Sharma that they would no longer engage with him.
g) The numbers of payouts, redundancies, firings and transfers of staff from Sharma's office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's.
h) The amount of sick day and personal time off for staff from Sharma's office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's.
i) Has Sharma threatened to sue? (yes) If so how many times and whom was threatened and when?
I think that is all I can think of to ask and avoid loopholes and semantic silly buggery. The numbers should tell a compelling story. Oh one last thought – can we have more detail over the bruhaha about the storage of fridge magnets – I suspect that the miss-storage of fridge magnets is crucial to unraveling the mystery of this tragic situation.
This is yet another example of why PAYE should be paid by employers directly to IRD on payday. It is the employees money – not the employers do do with what they like.
Paying directly on payday would help ensure such perfidy did not happen. I have family who have been victims of this and student loan money deducted from their wages not being paid to IRD and have little sympathy for employers who do this. Nightmare for the employee to sort out and entirely preventable.
Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one is the most obvious verse but in this case given the Ubereats Psalm 141:4 might be more appropriate.
Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
To practise wicked works with men that work iniquity:
And let me not eat of their dainties.
Win was required to deduct and pay PAYE to Inland Revenue monthly by the 20th of the month.
Between November 2017 to September 2019, Win employed eight workers and deducted PAYE from their wages and filed PAYE returns accounting for the deductions from employees’ wages. But for each month within that period, except between May 2018 and July 2018, he did not pay the deducted amounts by the due date.
And we complain about beneficiaries fiddling the system. What this man did is repeated many fold in NZ to the tune of not hundreds of thousands but hundreds of millions.
That was annoying. It appears that a disk fell out of raid on a restart after a security update. It deactivated the TS raid. Tricky to fix. Shouldn't have happened.
Reason unknown. I will fix when I get back home.
It may be a bit sluggish. Running rescue mode so I could turn off the problem and manually start the required services.
Moteliers have the leverage not the government. Besides why rent at market rates instead of buying? It’s like telling someone to keep renting instead of paying off a mortgage
There is plenty of good reason for Kainga Ora not to buy old motels:
They are not built for long stays with whole families
They would need massive investment to bring them up to Rental Code
They are largely built in the 1970s and early 1980s and hence are close to the end of their useful lives as structures, needing major maintenance on average just to make liveable let alone code-able
They rarely have play areas or anything resembling useful facilities for families, as one would find in a new Kainga Ora build
When things go really wrong as they did in Wanganui recently when such accommodation was turned into a major meth-dealing facility, the owner pretty much has to gut the entire unit. No need to have that liability.
Owners may want them back for when the tourists come back, which is likely
But people are still having to live in them now. Government has been using motels for more than half a decade.
Given that why not own instead of pay high rent? If the building is at end of its life they can rebuild on the land they own once there isn’t such a demand on emergency housing.
If they bought the motels, this would suggest they thought the problem was not temporary. It would suggest they were incapable of solving the problem via other means.
What else are they doing that gives you confidence there will be a time when there is less demand for emergency housing?
People who want to sell their motels. Go have a look in Trademe.
If they bought the motels, this would suggest they thought the problem was not temporary. It would suggest they were incapable of solving the problem via other means.
or, it suggests that solving the housing crisis is a long term problem (thanks FJK) with no quick fixes and that we will need emergency housing for some time to come.
What else are they doing that gives you confidence there will be a time when there is less demand for emergency housing?
Not a lot. I don't think Labour can solve the housing crisis. They do do way less damage than Nact, and set us on the right path though.
This type of 'housing' is very far from ideal, and I don't know how many motels might be involved, but any Govt motel ownership wouldn't survive a NAct Govt. Imho, purchasing motels would provide a future opportunity to deliver public assets (at bargain basement prices) into private hands – NAct have form.
A whole lot of them are old, run down, and need a lot of maintenance. Also if as a government you wanted to be seen as managing a temporary crisis buying a shoddy old motel as permanent housing for our homeless might not be the right thing to do.
What i would like to know is, why the government not simply rent Houses of the market and put homeless family into them. Even that would be cheaper then 3500 per week for a 3 bedroom motel unit that this women found – whilst in labour – to house her and her kids.
it was that article that prompted the question (rest of the piece is totally barbaric, still processing).
A whole lot of them are old, run down, and need a lot of maintenance.
Yes, but we already expect people to live in them, so that's not an argument against buying the motels.
Also if as a government you wanted to be seen as managing a temporary crisis buying a shoddy old motel as permanent housing for our homeless might not be the right thing to do.
Again, yes, but it's not for permanent housing, it's emergency housing. Everyone knows the crisis isn't going to be over soon. Going to get worse if Buller and Nelson are anything to go by.
i guess the argument that goes against buying them is
a. is it legal? These places are for short term occupation, Fenton Street in Rotorua is zoned short term occupation for motels. The current situation is actually in breach of council bylaw.
b. is it safe/hygenic etc – we had one motel burn down total, and fires are quite common.
c. how many people can you shove into one bedroom units and for how long before issues arise, and we have motels in Rotorua were private security don't work anymore, these motels have police stationed outdoors pretty much 24/7
also what happens say if a fire breaks out and lifes are lost. Who is responsible for the death? Council? Management of the Motel? Government? Do we care?
IF buying Motels is the best we can do, then we have given up. Consider as well that 25% of a benefit is taxed right away to pay for these hovels. Maybe settling homeless with housing debt to be repaid at 5 bucks a week was actually the better option. But Do we care?
I don't have much to add to the discussion on Sharma, beyond what Sanctuary so accurately described above, and the point already made that he is hilariously available for numerous media appearances now, but still too busy to be available for the PM or the caucus.
I'd just add that it's always useful to step outside the incestuous political bubble where commentators and us poli-geeks reside. If anyone thinks that the public care about this story any more, they should really go outside and meet the public.
He'll continue to make headlines, of course. Public tantrums by an MP always will. But the public are already bored and soon the media will be too.
The next election will be about many important issues. Gaurav Sharma won't be one of them. Ask Jami-Lee Ross. Or Brendan Horan (who?) or Gordon Copeland (who?) or Vernon Tava (who?) or … the other ones so memorable, nobody can remember.
And for those desperate to keep making the false equivalence, here's a concise summary from the reporter who broke the Uffindel story:
The Uffindell allegations were substantiated by five witnesses, put to him, and the story checked by lawyers before publishing as opposed to Guarav’s allegations which were tossed into the news cycle completely unchecked … in an opinion piece
There seems to be some serious sensitivity here to any suggestion that the Labour Party might actually share some blame in the Sharma revelations.
The seems to be a blind acceptance by some of the PM's assertion that there is no bullying within the party, that the fate of Sharma was not determined at a secret meeting she called and which was only revealed when a Labour MP rather foolishly sent Sharma a picture of the Zoom.
The Ombudsman is doing exactly what he should. A letter to ask for clarification.
Of course, the Ombudsman is independent, but if/when the Ombudsman reports "no issue here", there will be a tiresome right wing chorus of "No, not that wasn't independent, we only want the kind of independence that tell us what we want to hear".
The Ombudsman is looking at the issue of how OIAs are responded to and seeking assurances around this. He is not looking at the Sharma issue.
If I were the Ombudsman I too would be seeking this assurance after Sharma's complete misunderstanding of the Policy and the legislation around OIAs. This would have formed part of a routine induction just as it does when you join the PS.
His lack of understanding about how Parliament/Govt/legislation works is clear from his statements about what he was told. Very mixed up. Clearly he had/has difficulty with this and seems to have difficulty with nuance.
Mind you if he is suffering from depression/stress etc as he has said coping with nuance and things that are not black & white is usually difficult and thinking often becomes a bit rigid. That is giving him the benefit of the doubt that stress is/was the cause of his inability to manage his staff or accept his limitations.
I have the feeling though, based on his seeming inability to reflect, (that we have seen) that perhaps there is some sort of personality problem or tendencies as well.
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
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This is Russia's last ever war as a unified power. Putin's nationalistic paranoia has destroyed a potentially great nation. When he pops his clogs it will probably fragment into a bunch of smaller territories. He is so desperate that he's trying to bribe women into having more babies. And he's a gobshite hypocrite to accuse the USA of attempting to destabilise Taiwan & Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin revives 'Mother Heroine' cash bonus for women who have 10 children – NZ Herald
I'm inclined to think that any woman who has ten children probably deserves a cash bonus, whatever their nationality.
The US is not trying to destabilize Ukraine and Taiwan. It is trying to destabilize Russia. Ukraine and Taiwan are simply a means to that end.
It will take a very long time for them to replace all the equipment they have lost. And their demographics are against them in terms of raising future armies.
They still have hypersonic missiles and their nuclear capability is not…diminished.
Dr Sharma couldn't be tracked down earlier in the week when the most important meeting about him was to happen.
He had a very busy schedule, he had things on. Now he's on RNZ, he's been on Newshub and I see he's on Hosking.
He's on a crazed campaign, before he's on his bike.
He was never going to turn up as his argument is, it was a kangaroo court and the decision had already been made in the 'secret' meeting the night before.
This is obviously a tricky situation and apparently Sharma has had his lawyer involved for some time, which I’d do to if I were in a tricky spot with my employer. It makes perfect sense to have a meeting to discuss internally the options and possible outcomes before two parties in a dispute meet up. When there is a highly or most likely option it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a predetermined option & outcome – parties should meet in good faith. However, if one party doesn’t give the other one any other realistic options it may indeed look like it was predetermined from the outset. By not showing up it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and thus a fait accompli. To have a leg to stand on, rather than spinning it to suit your narrative, you must follow (due) process and show good faith.
All of what you say is correct, however Sharma is citing the (recorded) conversation with a fellow MP as evidence that the decision WAS predetermined. I can only see two alternatives: Either that MP completely misread the discussion in the Monday meeting, or the outcome was indeed determined at that meeting.
If Sharma has proof it was pre-determined in the secret meeting that he was not invited to, then the second half of your comment is pretty much irrelevant.
Either you cannot read or you cannot think, or both. If he decided it was pre-determined and acted accordingly, then he forced the outcome to meet his pre-determined expectation. The fact that there was a special meeting set up for and with him strongly suggests that there were still things to discussed and decided. He failed to attend and thus signed his own fate. My question is whether this was reasonable process and whether this could have been handled better by Labour knowing that he’s in a spot of bother, mentally, at least.
Lol "secret meeting." Is there any organisation that wouldn't get relevant people together to discuss what to do about the loose unit who's shitting on them in the media? As for "pre-determined," the only thing surprising there is that they didn't immediately give him the boot.
This is what makes me doubt the 'other' MP or the tape. The other MP says that the Monday meeting had predetermined the outcome and they were going to give him the 'whack',
Instead we find that the actual decision by Caucus and reported by the PM was to suspend him from the Labour Caucus, provide a way back and time for this to occur and mediation.
I am wondering if Sharma's mole misread the tenor of the Monday meeting because I find that what came out after the Caucus meeting on the Tuesday, is far from giving him the whack.
Instead it seems that the function of the meeting was in fact to provide a safe and non-leaking space to express concern & disappointment at their colleagues actions and these will no doubt have been feisty from some.
The other option, other than misreading the tenor of the meeting and/or the function of the Monday meeting and how it relates to the Tuesday caucus, is that the Sharma's source is as lacking in knowledge about process and nuance as Sharma himself.
PM has said that Sharma has misread what his colleague was saying.
.
The thing is, we've all had to deal with a Gaurav at some time or another in the workplace. The guy who has lost the plot. Got a job he wasn't suited for and has popped a fuse. You might be the HR manager who inwardly sighs when he turns up with his lawyer and 100s of pages in his dossier, knowing you are going to have spend two days a week for the next six months to get rid of the guy. Or you might be the union rep, who has to sit through his diatribe sixty four million times before going to the meeting with the HR manager and fight his corner (been there, done that). Or his line manager who has to meticulously document ever interaction with him. Or his direct reports, who do everything to aviod and not engage and generally keep away from the guy who has lost the plot. Or just a colleague, who smells the taint of dissent and just wants to enjoy his or her job in peace. Once you've lived a while, we will ALL have been around a Gaurav.
Now the fact of the matter is he has lost the plot. That I think is a matter of obvious public record. Being egged on by a salacious, partisan media looking for scandal and breathlessly reported on by lazy court journalists from the press gallery, who like all courtiers thrive on court gossip and preen at being consulted doesn't help anyone but there you have it. The central question then isn't Dr. Sharma's rationality – he is clearly irrational, obsessed and operating with all the bad faith one would expect to come from that – but what led him to lose the plot, which leads us to consider his accusations. Which is all they are. Accusations. He has not offered a shred of evidence to back up his increasingly outlandish claims. The latest "explosive revelation" is he was forced (FORCED, oh the inhumanity!) to attend a workshop (practically the same as the Gulag!) where new candidates were coached on how to avoid OIA requests. Forced to attend a workshop. I mean, for God's sake man get a grip. Words just fail me.
Until he does get some actual evidence then in the great court of public opinion (in the algorthim driven Herald site his story vanished almost immediately) he has, IMHO, been pigeon holed with that Gaurav we've had the misfortune to deal with at least once in our lives at work.
Sad to see, should probably never have got the job, pretty unfortunate all round, all a bit embarassing, avoid at all costs in the lunch room, thank God he is gone, hope he does well somewhere else, let's hope they recruit better next time.
FYI…todays latest on this is the #2 story on the Herakd on line as of right now.
Brilliant Sanc. Says it all.
Have you seen the Australian TV series Utopia? It superbly satirises the type of scenario you describe above.
That's very much the impression I get too. When I was working in Kuwait we had a Gaurav who, when HR finally did manage to fire him, got pissed that night and chucked a concrete block through the rear window of the boss' Trans Am. Jacinda Ardern should probably count herself lucky she doesn't own a sports car.
going down in a blaze of glory. Someone needs to give him Jami-Lee's number
Putting aside the truth of the dudes claims. Labour are looking like they are a vindictive bunch of shits who couldnt run a bath.
Just agree to an independent inquiry..
The reason they refuse to obviously even more shifty stuff they are trying to hide
I've changed your name back to lower case (upper case is SHOUTING). Might want to have a look at your email address.
Yeah, yeah, they should have gone all lovey dove with Sharma, 'embraced' him, given him 'another chance.'
Then you would have been on here saying they were gutless, didn't have the balls to deal with him as he should have been dealt with.
And left you to go off sort of as vindictive bunches of shits do. And naturally put aside the truth of the 'dude's' claims. I mean why let facts and the truth intrude?
No -They can suspend him and undertake an independent enquiry.
That will then shut everyone up and bury the issue.
Suspend, have independent enquiry AND keep the findings secret.
That's the way to go.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/08/national-s-independent-review-into-sam-uffindell-allegations-to-be-kept-secret-christopher-luxon-says.html
No – release the findings. There is nothing to hide here. Sharma is a narcissist
Given the sensitive nature of some of the allegations, and the historical nature of them, secrecy and confidentiality for the sake of all parties, including those on the receiving end of the actions of Young Uffindel, is entirely appropriate.
Get stuck in Chris T!
You've smelled blood and your pecker's up!
Swoop! Strike!
Now's your chance!
I agree 100%! Hire a QC, do an internal review, and keep the report secret.
Perfect. Can you direct me to a template/precedent for this approach?
Mac1 below has snapped me: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-08-2022/#comment-1906497.
This is now the objective of the Herald/NewsHub operatives pushing the story: The "Independent Enquiry into Labour Party Bullying" has a nice ring to it. Just substitute "anti-semitism" for "bullying" and you can see both the historical precedent and the desired outcome.
Jimmy, if your assertion the decision had already been made, self-centred Sharma deserved it by his behaviour to his party and colleagues and former staff. Some self-reflection by him towards simply getting along with people is badly needed. He seems to have no idea about working co-operatively. Right from the start of his entering Parliament he has been difficult to deal with.
Hopefully, by now his Parliamentary "colleagues" have learned that anything they say to him is likely to be recorded and used by him with or without their approval. Also that any personal correspondence to him, or which he has access to will also be publicised by him if it suites his narrative, We saw this earlier in the week when Darien Fenton sent him a personal message suggesting how he might get assistance. He then published it and Darien was subjected to hours of trolling by the usual suspects. The man is coming across as having a very well tuned sense of his own importance and of his own victimhood. Neither seems to rest on firm foundations.
If they can be bothered to dig back far enough (and they won't) they would probably find he has done it before. Those types usually have. And they are very good at playing the victim and turning the innocent party or parties into the perpetrators.
There would be a trail of broken egg shells his unfortunate contacts would have been treading…worriedly.
Any of his colleagues would be wary, should be wary of him. What they say could be turned into evidence against them and their party.
The upshot of that? He'll call the shunning 'bullying.'
Good point Anne.
An accomplished Narcissist …with, as usual for that type, no care for the consequences of such. Even to themselves !
Oh no. They care for themselves.
In severe cases, they will go so far as to commit crimes such as stalking, unlawful entries to property and other misdemeanors in order to maintain control over the life of the victim. Making serious allegations (sometimes anonymously) against the victim/victims is another favourite tool. That ensures everyone is concentrating on the victim/victims and not on themselves.
I don't believe Sharma is anywhere near that level, but they exist and some manage to get away with it for a life-time.
Oh god, sorry…. I of course, was forgetting you have had some quite "up close" involvement with those kind of swine.
And yes I do also see Sharma as maybe a lower order variety. Those who have known him..will probably be breathing relief that he didnt go as far on them ?
"I… was forgetting you have had some quite "up close" involvement with those kind of swine."
Their behaviour adversely affected the Labour Party in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. Unfortunately I did not know they were the culprits at the time. However that is the reason they later targeted me. Like all guilty parties, they were paranoid I might figure it out and the motivations behind their antics. Quite a story it is. Puts Sharma and co. well into the shadows. 😉
Hi Anne. Seems it was both bad that you had to undergo this…BUT, good that you had your Wits..and obvious Fortitude to best them !
Maybe one day tell your story….
Exactly Anne, "Look at them, meeting without me" "Look at Jacinda lying"
Does he ever look at his own behaviour? Even for a moment? Yes, and he believes "I have done nothing wrong" "I am not the bully"
Sadly, he has accused someone of misappropriation of funds, which turned out to be a travel allowance. Did he apologise?
He wanted someone sacked, it appears an inquiry found against him, and he interpreted that as undermining his authority, which he did not have to begin with.
Now he is calling on friends to back him in the face of an apparent long running situation of "I will lawyer up" "You are asking me/directing me to do training".
He has not appeared for meetings previously, accusing other MPs of some type of agenda. He appears to be quite rigid in his relationships.
Depression and focus on detail and documentation are obvious coping strategies, and his cry about long hours backs that.
He is clever annoying and pedantic, seeming to lose the main idea in a plethora of supposed slights.
Now he has put himself in a corner, so he is letting fly. An enquiry would be difficult as he would not take part in good faith the moment he felt it was not going in his favour.
This is a pattern, and there may be personal issues he knows about and has yet to face imo. Sad for him and the party.
"Sharma says he was warned that the machinations of the Labour Party would either discredit his claims or blame mental health. And the warning was sound. The Prime Minister's Office has moved to discredit him saying he is misrepresenting conversations, his wellbeing called into question. "
If that’s the tactics Labour employ, sad indeed.
LibertyBelle, he is the one who said he had issues around depression and suicide. He said it. Over a week ago. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/mp-sharma-unleashes-fresh-wave-allegations
So, no, not the tactics that Labour employs.
Indeed, imagine the furore if such issues had been ignored once brought into the open by him. And rightly so.
That doesn't excuse Labour using the mental health of the alleged victim of bullying to discredit their claims though (which seems to be what he is claiming).
Doesn't answer the question of who introduced the question and what possib;e reply could be made given that he opened up the topic. Once opened, it had to be addressed.
I note also that you are hiding behind words. You wrote, "(which seems to be what he is claiming). Note the words 'seems' and 'claiming'.
If anyone is claiming without evidence, it is you.
No, I'm simply being cautious. The idea that a person's mental health could be weaponised against him to discredit his complaints is despicable. If true. And we don't know if it's true, we only have his word for it. At the moment, anyway.
If true, all your pontificating and insinuating here is based on idle speculation and the word of one person who is under a huge amount of pressure and, by his own admission, suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts, which will undoubtedly affect his thinking and actions.
If true, you simply keep sucking away oxygen here.
If true, I have enough of this pattern behaviour of yours.
If true, you can draw your own conclusion of what will happen next.
Truly cautious would, I suggest, be not to proffer a conjecture at all.
Otherwise you get a reputation for making stuff up to fit a narrative that suits you, as Anne alludes to below.
Evidence. Facts. Better than the unsubstantiated accusations of a man in some personal difficulty.
Well someone far above your and my paygrade wants answers:
Newshub can reveal the Chief Ombudsman has written to the Prime Minister seeking assurances her Government understands its transparency obligations.
"all your pontificating and insinuating here is based on idle speculation and the word of one person "
He has evidence that he has presented. Text messages. A taped phone conversation that the media have verified comes from another Labour MP. This is either a grand conspiracy, or Labour supporters will have to accept that this government is so transparent we can see right through them.
[You said it yourself:
Now, you’re claiming that there’s more than just his word. I have not seen it and you have not seen it, so you’re speculating and taking him at his word and distrusting the word of many others who deny his word, including the PM and Labour Ministers.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/473116/jacinda-ardern-is-lying-labour-mp-gaurav-sharma-questions-pm-s-credibility
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/473162/sharma-s-suspension-not-predetermined-labour-ministers-say
The truth will be somewhere in the middle, as usual when there are two wildly conflicting stories, but your conspiracy thoughts will not get us any closer to it. When new info and/or new insights come to hand and when there are new developments things will hopefully become clearer. Until then you’ll have nothing to add to what you have already said here. I will again put a stop to your oxygen-wasting commenting behaviour here, if I have too. This is your warning – Incognito]
Mod note
"Now, you’re claiming that there’s more than just his word."
Now you're being dishonest. You know my comment was referring to the warnings he received about Labour weaponising his mental health issues. We do only have his word about that. But we have text's and a recorded phone message as evidence of his other claims.
[Gaslights consume oxygen. You are a major gaslight here on TS. We need oxygen for discourse to flourish. We cannot flourish with you around. Take a week off, this time; I have no time to play games with you and I’ve got much work to do this weekend – Incognito]
Mod note
C'mon Mac1. Liberty Lady doesn't want the facts. She (if she is a she) only wants to "misrepresent" them so that she can claim a negative agenda which fits into the "Jacinda Ardern is a liar and cheat" meme.
I realise the entire notion that your beloved PM could possibly be lying is probably too much for you to bear.
I realise that your natural inclination to be deceitful and dishonest in the interest of a bunch of ultra right-wing losers transcends all genuine considerations.
Sorry again. No longer have laptop so using a phone and never text.
A if some one wants to speak so bad they would ring. Learning stuff though which is cool.
that is cool. Sing out if you need any pointers.
Support striking workers.
https://www.greens.org.nz/green_party_stands_with_firefighters
https://www.nzpfu.org.nz/news/fenzs-deceptive-conduct-is-unveiled/
We’ve long thought that our first responders should be fully professional. Fire, Ambulance, and Surf Lifesaving.
By all means provide a place for volunteers, but ensure that the majority are paid, from the public purse.
I would be a bit more sympathetic to the Firefighter's Union if they had not worked so hard for so long not to allow women into their ranks. Thanks to the persistence of Firefighter England, they were forced by legal action to admit women. However, there has continued to be a steady campaign of harassment and discouragement against female firefighters.
Different union.
This strike is by the union for professional firefighters.
You are referring to the UFBA, which is more focussed on volunteer brigades.
I just find it suspicicous Ardern is to scared to have an independent inquiry when theit was the first thing the nats did with their idiot.
You know. Given how open and transparent she promised her govt would be evers
National has open and transparent process?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/08/national-s-independent-review-into-sam-uffindell-allegations-to-be-kept-secret-christopher-luxon-says.html
The two cases are entirely different.
Uffindell has a proven nasty bullying past that should have been enough for him not to be selected as a candidate but National was willing to ignore this. His bullying and anti women violence (“hit the road fatty”) was hidden from voters.
Sharma admits to depression which may explain in part his recent behaviour. He seems to be very self-entitled, perhaps on the basis of his strong academic background. When power/authority/recognition didn't fall into his lap in the rough and tumble of parliament he threw his toys out of the cot. He has turned out to be a bad choice of candidate; this can happen. But none of his claims to have been bullied or other accusations against Labour MP's have been proven.
An independent inquiry into what exactly? Be specific.
This is what I'm struggling with Weka. I'm completely lost as to what they're meant to be enquiring into and what the substance of the complaint is. For all the noise there are not a lot of hard allegations of fact in the public domain (unlike Uffindell where it is crystal clear what he is said to have done). Do they just want an enquiry into the general culture within the Labour caucus? If so, to what end? Why stop at Labour – you may as well enquire into the caucus culture of all Parliamentary parties while you're at it. Those would be very broad terms of reference. The usual bad faith actors seem to be just yelling "Independent Enquiry" without knowing what they're really asking for, and these same people would usually be the first to rubbish Labour for wasting money on enquiries.
I'll have a crack.
The staff relationship problems clearly evident in his office.
How they were responded to by parliamentary service and party whips. The steps taken to resolve these and if they were made in a timely and appropriate fashion.
Is the appropriate oversight in place for new Mps given they can suddenly find themselves in people management roles with zero practical experience.
Is it really the party whips' role to manage employment issues between their MPs and the staff assigned to them by Parliamentary Service? Genuine question. I had always thought the whips were there to keep MPs in line on political/policy issues rather than operational matters.
Aside from that, those terms of reference sound reasonable to me although they have little if anything to do with embarrassing the prime minister so I don't think they will satisfy the usual suspects.
I think the whips have a role to play in relation to the Mp and how they deal with staff especially if the Mp is out of their depth.
This could be providing / arranging appropriate support. I'm not sure that's something that has been handled very well in this case and no doubt many others to the detriment of the staffers who end up putting up with shitty behavior.
Parliament is a high pressure environment but the staff dont deserve to be treated like shit and it's not ok that they can be and expected to suck it up. Nick Smith springs to mind.
Its something we need to fix.
This reflects the good old difference between "the public interest" and "what the public is interested in." What specific events need investigating?
Obviously the dude knows stuff they dont want out
So they will just keep him till the next election
You 're right about Uffindell!
He is also an idiot
Which is why they have an independent inquiry
A helpful assessment and commentary, which will lift the quality of discourse here beyond our wildest dreams.
So, all idiots require independent enquiries? That'll be the new industry, after mental health counsellors.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/129587238/we-need-to-stop-labelling-all-our-emotions-as-mental-health-problems
Exactly! You can read between the lines 🙂
National’s problem is self-inflicted because they selected a candidate who was upfront and disclosed ‘personal history’ and then failed to manage it. You cannot push forward a candidate and then withdraw your support when the going gets tough. It shows lack of leadership, managerial skills, good process, and loyalty – hiding behind a QC and a secret report is weak, to say the least.
Yikes, who would be left to conduct the enquiries?
You and me, obviously……
Just what kind of thing is Dr Sharma (so far) above posting on Facebook?
Fantastic. Nats crap. Never said they werent
Now can you give a reason Ardern is refusing an independent inquiry!?
I’d start with a full psychiatric evaluation, which will raise privacy issues, of course, and one cannot be forced to cooperate against their will. So far, one person has made it abundantly clear that he’s not willing to cooperate at all, or follow due process, but that he’s rather inclined to go down his rollercoaster path. Anybody who has some experience with clinical depression (and suicide) may realise that this might be a loud cry for help – it makes me wonder if it was sufficiently known in his workplace and handled appropriately (but not necessarily by his employer(s)) and at face value the answer seems to be “No”.
Good, thoughtful response, Incognito. I can hear the black dog barking.
You are a qualified and registered Psychiatrist or Psychologist are you?
Who did you have in mind for this evaluation by the way? Or are you suggesting it would be best to evaluate all the people accused of bullying. That is beginning to be rather a long list isn't it?
https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/12-08-2022/labour-mp-gaurav-sharma-names-main-bully-within-caucus-alleges-misspending-of-taxpayer-funds
Any other unhelpful comments you want to make to show your usual prejudice and bias as well as your lack of reading comprehension?
Any professional, legal, medical, or other, knows better than to do a professional assessment and judgement online, least of all on a public forum, on a public figure who’s also in the midst of a controversy (aka shit storm). Clearly, you’re not in that category of professionals and more a sensationalist armchair wrestler.
MPs should model decent behaviour – will be challenging for some, but they can learn – best not to right off new MPs for a few misdemeanours – give them time.
I heard Sharma's interview on Newstalk ZB this morning. He gave very specific information about training MPs were given on how to avoid OIA requests, or at least control the narrative.
If that is true, it would have to be concerning. Open and transparent government, not so much.
Its true. Multiple levels of the public service right up to MPs receive training on what is able to be OIA'd and what is not. An important part of OIA legislation is staff being compliant with and understanding it.
Except the claim is that the training was how to avoid being subject to OIA’s.
Its the same training. The PS tries to avoid being OIA'd all the time, its basically best practice not to have to deal with it. What they take from the training is up to them of course.
Also, in future, please don't tell me your email address when commenting here as it allows somebody to co-opt and impersonate your handle.
I have no idea how you got to see my email address? Bizarre.
Oh I didn't, see anything. I merely explained to you why 'The Standard' doesn't publish that detail and keeps it a secret.
Do new MPs receive OI requests? There've been any number of claims relating to recent turns of political events, and no doubt more to come. I'd want to read an accurate quote, in context, before forming an opinion – won't stop some though.
The OIA for Ministers and agencies [PDF; August 2019]
A guide to processing official information requests
On another issue relating to transparency, some believe avoidance is OK, while others see nothing wrong with a little evasion. And then there's minimisation and mitigation – so many ways to 'get ahead'.
I would be surprised if new MP's received OIA's, but that begs the question of why they need this 'training'.
New MPs receiving training? Bizarre – surely they can just wing it
Members’ Guide [PDF]
Aratiki Mema
52nd Parliament (can't find the most recent one)
Training for something you even questioned happens?
Do you mean my questioning whether ‘new MPs receiving OI requests’ is a thing? I honestly don’t know if that happens – do you?
Of course some new MPs might eventually become Ministers – guess it all depends on how steep Parliament wants that learning curve to be. The training of new MPs is evolving – wonder when new MPs first started getting training relating to OI requests – the OIA has been around for a while (enacted in 1982, under a National Government – who would have guessed!)
I doubt it happens, but it can't be ruled out. The bigger issue is what this 'training' involved. This is how it's been reported:
He also made the claim that Labour held a workshop to teach new MPs how to handle information so it didn't fall into the public's hands. That included on how to get around the Official Information Act.
"They said the staffing arrangements are done in a way that some staff work part-time for Labour Leader's Office and part-time for Prime Minister's Office and when they want to prevent OIA, they just sort of make it that this is Labour Leader's problem, this is not the Prime Minister's office problem and then they can get away with it."
If true, that not open or transparent.
If true [How difficult would it have been to include the words immediately below the quote you provided: “Dr Sharma didn’t provide any evidence to support his allegations.“?] – in which case the OIA and other legislation designed to promote open and transparent Government should be beefed up – nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
"If true [How difficult would it have been to include the words immediately below the quote you provided: “Dr Sharma didn’t provide any evidence to support his allegations.“?]"
But he has provided evidence, hasn't he. His own testimony. And is anyone denying it?
Is that a question? Jamie Ensor, author of the item you (selectively) quoted from @5:03 pm, didn't think so, but maybe he's biased
"Is that a question?"
No, it's a statement of fact. He has presented copies of text messages, a 55 minute recording of another Labour MP.
Are you picking and choosing which parts of Ensor's extensive report, selectively quoted in your comment at 5:03 pm, to believe? How very partisan.
When Ensor wrote this, immediately after the excerpt from his report that you quoted, was he lying, in your opinion?
As for your “statement of fact” claims, since the only links you’ve chosen to provide in this thread are in your comment @5:03 pm, I’ll keep an open mind.
Your MO, LibertyBelle, seems to be "begging the question".
Fortunately, we see through this.
I wonder if that could be considered a criminal offence of some type? I note on Three News last night Sharma handed over an alleged tape of a fellow Labour MP informing him of what went down during the caucus meeting that convened without him. So he seems to be a man who keeps good records. However, he will need to release more information to back up other claims he has made.
It is possible that the secret caller was trying to assist Sharma to cope/manage with his probable censure and laying it on the line as to the real probability of expulsion. Depends on the tone of the whole message.
I have very little trust in anything like this which is released as a "snippet" out of context from the whole. A bit like JLR's recorded call of Simon Bridges about donation splitting which was supposed to expose Bridges but ended up being a total own goal.
that's what I would guess. Without hearing it, it's hard to tell.
Lol martyr complex.
What I suspect the public should know
a)Total number of staff employed/seconded to work in Sharma's Office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
b)Number of contacts/complaints from Sharma to Parliamentary Service versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
c)Number of contacts/complaints from Sharma's staff to Parliamentary Service versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
d) The numbers of both (b) and (c) before Parliamentary Service asked for the Labour Party's whip's assistance
e) The dates and numbers of times that Sharma was offered training and or mentorship and the number and any details of his refusals of these offers
f) The numbers of both (b) and (c) before Parliamentary Service advised Sharma that they would no longer engage with him.
g) The numbers of payouts, redundancies, firings and transfers of staff from Sharma's office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's.
h) The amount of sick day and personal time off for staff from Sharma's office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's.
i) Has Sharma threatened to sue? (yes) If so how many times and whom was threatened and when?
I think that is all I can think of to ask and avoid loopholes and semantic silly buggery. The numbers should tell a compelling story. Oh one last thought – can we have more detail over the bruhaha about the storage of fridge magnets – I suspect that the miss-storage of fridge magnets is crucial to unraveling the mystery of this tragic situation.
At this point Luxon must call for a bi-partisan independent committee investigation into the storage of fridge magnets.
OK he will want a new job.
WHO would even think abt employing him now?
This is yet another example of why PAYE should be paid by employers directly to IRD on payday. It is the employees money – not the employers do do with what they like.
Paying directly on payday would help ensure such perfidy did not happen. I have family who have been victims of this and student loan money deducted from their wages not being paid to IRD and have little sympathy for employers who do this. Nightmare for the employee to sort out and entirely preventable.
Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one is the most obvious verse but in this case given the Ubereats Psalm 141:4 might be more appropriate.
Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
To practise wicked works with men that work iniquity:
And let me not eat of their dainties.
Win was required to deduct and pay PAYE to Inland Revenue monthly by the 20th of the month.
Between November 2017 to September 2019, Win employed eight workers and deducted PAYE from their wages and filed PAYE returns accounting for the deductions from employees’ wages. But for each month within that period, except between May 2018 and July 2018, he did not pay the deducted amounts by the due date.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/129624817/christchurch-builder-pleads-guilty-to-300000-tax-evasion
You can do that now, it's called payday filing, and it's actually far simpler for the business, and smooths cash flow.
I'm suggesting it should be compulsory.
I tend to agree. It would not only resolve the original issue you raised, it would be far more efficient.
And we complain about beneficiaries fiddling the system. What this man did is repeated many fold in NZ to the tune of not hundreds of thousands but hundreds of millions.
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2015-02/tgls-marriott-slides.pdf
.https://thestandard.org.nz/what-tax-evasion-robs-us-of-in-nz/
That was annoying. It appears that a disk fell out of raid on a restart after a security update. It deactivated the TS raid. Tricky to fix. Shouldn't have happened.
Reason unknown. I will fix when I get back home.
It may be a bit sluggish. Running rescue mode so I could turn off the problem and manually start the required services.
anyone?
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1560476185535979520
Or simply renting at normal market rates using volume as a negotiating tool?
Moteliers have the leverage not the government. Besides why rent at market rates instead of buying? It’s like telling someone to keep renting instead of paying off a mortgage
Because the capital required to buy motels is better put to building houses so people don't need to love in hotels!
that only makes sense if you are counting houses, rather than people needing emergency accommodation.
There is plenty of good reason for Kainga Ora not to buy old motels:
But people are still having to live in them now. Government has been using motels for more than half a decade.
Given that why not own instead of pay high rent? If the building is at end of its life they can rebuild on the land they own once there isn’t such a demand on emergency housing.
Would they buy the motels forcefully?
Who would sell willingly?
If they bought the motels, this would suggest they thought the problem was not temporary. It would suggest they were incapable of solving the problem via other means.
What else are they doing that gives you confidence there will be a time when there is less demand for emergency housing?
People who want to sell their motels. Go have a look in Trademe.
or, it suggests that solving the housing crisis is a long term problem (thanks FJK) with no quick fixes and that we will need emergency housing for some time to come.
Not a lot. I don't think Labour can solve the housing crisis. They do do way less damage than Nact, and set us on the right path though.
This type of 'housing' is very far from ideal, and I don't know how many motels might be involved, but any Govt motel ownership wouldn't survive a NAct Govt. Imho, purchasing motels would provide a future opportunity to deliver public assets (at bargain basement prices) into private hands – NAct have form.
that's easily the best argument against.
A whole lot of them are old, run down, and need a lot of maintenance. Also if as a government you wanted to be seen as managing a temporary crisis buying a shoddy old motel as permanent housing for our homeless might not be the right thing to do.
But Govt did buy some in Rotorua
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/sold-government-pays-81m-for-boulevard-motel-to-house-homeless/WBRLIMDOR5BDLCE5T3EZGJMFX4/
and is seeking to lease even more spaces as there this homeless crisis is going to be permanent for a long long time to come.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/rotorua-motels-for-more-than-1000-homeless-submissions-open-for-resource-consent-applications/LHJQANMEK7BI4MARU7IL2LXCK4/
What i would like to know is, why the government not simply rent Houses of the market and put homeless family into them. Even that would be cheaper then 3500 per week for a 3 bedroom motel unit that this women found – whilst in labour – to house her and her kids.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/bay-of-plenty/300663775/pregnant-cancer-sufferer-goes-into-labour-in-work-and-income-office-told-to-find-own-accommodation
It all seems somewhat barbaric.
it was that article that prompted the question (rest of the piece is totally barbaric, still processing).
Yes, but we already expect people to live in them, so that's not an argument against buying the motels.
Again, yes, but it's not for permanent housing, it's emergency housing. Everyone knows the crisis isn't going to be over soon. Going to get worse if Buller and Nelson are anything to go by.
i guess the argument that goes against buying them is
a. is it legal? These places are for short term occupation, Fenton Street in Rotorua is zoned short term occupation for motels. The current situation is actually in breach of council bylaw.
b. is it safe/hygenic etc – we had one motel burn down total, and fires are quite common.
c. how many people can you shove into one bedroom units and for how long before issues arise, and we have motels in Rotorua were private security don't work anymore, these motels have police stationed outdoors pretty much 24/7
also what happens say if a fire breaks out and lifes are lost. Who is responsible for the death? Council? Management of the Motel? Government? Do we care?
IF buying Motels is the best we can do, then we have given up. Consider as well that 25% of a benefit is taxed right away to pay for these hovels. Maybe settling homeless with housing debt to be repaid at 5 bucks a week was actually the better option. But Do we care?
https://www.rotorualakescouncil.nz/our-council/news/news?item=id:2hw4fjprm1cxbyncy6py
I don't have much to add to the discussion on Sharma, beyond what Sanctuary so accurately described above, and the point already made that he is hilariously available for numerous media appearances now, but still too busy to be available for the PM or the caucus.
I'd just add that it's always useful to step outside the incestuous political bubble where commentators and us poli-geeks reside. If anyone thinks that the public care about this story any more, they should really go outside and meet the public.
He'll continue to make headlines, of course. Public tantrums by an MP always will. But the public are already bored and soon the media will be too.
The next election will be about many important issues. Gaurav Sharma won't be one of them. Ask Jami-Lee Ross. Or Brendan Horan (who?) or Gordon Copeland (who?) or Vernon Tava (who?) or … the other ones so memorable, nobody can remember.
And for those desperate to keep making the false equivalence, here's a concise summary from the reporter who broke the Uffindel story:
The Uffindell allegations were substantiated by five witnesses, put to him, and the story checked by lawyers before publishing as opposed to Guarav’s allegations which were tossed into the news cycle completely unchecked … in an opinion piece
https://twitter.com/kirsty_johnston/status/1560359241491173376
There seems to be some serious sensitivity here to any suggestion that the Labour Party might actually share some blame in the Sharma revelations.
The seems to be a blind acceptance by some of the PM's assertion that there is no bullying within the party, that the fate of Sharma was not determined at a secret meeting she called and which was only revealed when a Labour MP rather foolishly sent Sharma a picture of the Zoom.
So maybe its time to change the subject, and let the Ombudsman do his work.
Apparently Dr Sharma is doing fine now, and is no longer feeling under stress.
The Ombudsman is doing exactly what he should. A letter to ask for clarification.
Of course, the Ombudsman is independent, but if/when the Ombudsman reports "no issue here", there will be a tiresome right wing chorus of "No, not that wasn't independent, we only want the kind of independence that tell us what we want to hear".
The Ombudsman is looking at the issue of how OIAs are responded to and seeking assurances around this. He is not looking at the Sharma issue.
If I were the Ombudsman I too would be seeking this assurance after Sharma's complete misunderstanding of the Policy and the legislation around OIAs. This would have formed part of a routine induction just as it does when you join the PS.
His lack of understanding about how Parliament/Govt/legislation works is clear from his statements about what he was told. Very mixed up. Clearly he had/has difficulty with this and seems to have difficulty with nuance.
Mind you if he is suffering from depression/stress etc as he has said coping with nuance and things that are not black & white is usually difficult and thinking often becomes a bit rigid. That is giving him the benefit of the doubt that stress is/was the cause of his inability to manage his staff or accept his limitations.
I have the feeling though, based on his seeming inability to reflect, (that we have seen) that perhaps there is some sort of personality problem or tendencies as well.
I think the only thing that will put the Gaurav Sharma thing to bed is to have a full, independent and transparent inquiry.
Otherwise this will keep going on for ages.
Ardern must be regretting not going straight to an inquiry, as opposed to trying to smooth things over.
The boils needs to be lanced.
See my comment at 16.
The public have put it to bed. You may want to keep it awake, but please don't pretend the old "just asking questions" line is sincere.
I've asked you before, are you fishing or baiting? Be careful what you might catch or attract here.